For safe and effective carving of flat workpieces, you must secure the carving in a way that frees both of your hands and doesn't mar your masterpiece. It sure would be nice to have a hold-down that adapts to any carving.

Drill a series of 1/2" holes, set apart 2" on center, into a piece of 3/4x12x18" plywood (or larger if desired). Then, make at least two T-shaped pins from 1-1/4" lengths of 1/2" dowel and 3/4" lengths of 1" dowel such as those shown above right. Drill a 1/2" hole 1/2" deep into the center of the 1" dowel lengths and glue and insert the 1/2" dowel pieces. From 3/4" solid stock, cut a cam according to the full-sized pattern above, and drill a ½" hole as indicated. Glue a 1-3/4" length of 1/2" dowel into the hole in the cam so 1/2" of dowel protrudes from each face. Now, you can hold a carving of most any shape between at least two pins and the cam. Clamp the board to your workbench or hold it in your lap, whatever's the most comfortable to you.

--Gordon Humphrey, Victoria, British Columbia
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Stray even a bit when installing shelf standards, and your shelves will rock maddeningly.

Fit a spacer block between the cabinet bottom and a slot near the bottom of the shelf standard. Install a shelf clip upside down in the slot, and then rest it on top of the block to position the standard while you drive in the screws or nails. Repeat for the other standards for accurate placement.

--Lance Lewis, West Newbury, Mass.
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Trying to force glue into a tight spot such as a crack on a board or a split in an old furniture part can exasperate even the most patient woodworker. And sometimes the spot that needs the glue is so tight you can't even get a hypodermic needle in there.

Place the board so the place you need to glue hangs over the end of your bench. Now, bring over your shop vacuum, turn, it on, and hold the nozzle underneath. Apply glue to the top, letting the suction pull it in. When glue comes out the bottom, clamp the workpiece.

--Jim Reister, Walla Walla, Wash.
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As careful as you are, it's all too easy to gash your thumb while carving. Wearing a glove is just too clumsy, though.

Don't wear the entire glove, just a part of it. Cut the fingers from an old leather glove before you throw it away. Then, just slip one onto your thumb whenever you carve. Always endeavor, of course, to keep your thumb and fingers out of harm's way.

--Maurice Anderson, Denver, CO
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Wooden display shelves look great, but how do you anchor them to the walls without a lot of metal hardware showing?

Rout a stopped groove in the back of your shelf brackets, and use that space to make a hidden cleat. Rout the groove as shown in the illustration below. Now, cut a cleat that fits snugly into the groove and flush with the back edge of the bracket. To complete the cleat, cut it in half at a 45° angle, screw the bottom, part B, to the wall and glue the top, part A, to the bracket as shown. Slip the bracket over the wall-mounted section of the cleat and you have a strong and completely invisible support.

--Joseph W. Mott, Binghampton, N.Y.
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The rung in the back of a chair or a stretcher between chair legs may break, even though all the chair's joints remain tight.

Turn a replacement part or use the old one if it can be repaired. You may need to shorten one tenon so you can wiggle the damaged piece into the original position. Drill a 1/4" hole into the center of the shortened tenon deep enough to accept a 2"-long dowel and a ballpoint-pen spring. Next, bore a 1/4" hole at least 1/2" deep into the middle of the plugged spindle hole as shown in the drawing above. Apply glue to both ends of the rung and slip into place as you would reload a roll of toilet paper. The spring will push the dowel into place and, when the glue sets, the dowel will make the repair permanent.

--Earl W. Zieg, Fairfax, Va.
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Clean tires on your bandsaw wheels can reduce blade breakage and prevent tracking problems. But, as soon as you clean them, they start getting dusty and gritty again.

Mount toothbrushes on brackets to clean the tires constantly. The example shown here is for a 14" Delta machine, but would fit most bandsaws with some modifications. Cut the brush handle short and mount the bristle head in a slotted piece of wood with a screw. Or, you could glue a brush to a metal angle bracket with epoxy. Provide slotted mounting holes or add washers for adjustment.

--Laszlo Laczko, San Jose, Calif.
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Cutting exact duplicates can be difficult. If you use nails to join the pieces, there are holes to fill. With staples, it's necessary to restaple the parts as wood is sawed away.

Carbon copies won't slip apart during sawing if you use double-faced carpet tape to join them. Make your layout on the top piece of stock, then apply the tape to its back side. Remove the protective strip from the tape and firmly press the pieces together in alignment. Don't worry about tape placement between the blocks, as the saw blade won't be hindered.

--From the WOOD® magazine shop
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Sometimes you may find your bandsaw table too skimpy to support the work. And you don't want to spend time making a complicated table extension.

Cut a piece of 3/4" plywood to the size needed, then cut out a slot to admit the bandsaw blade, as shown right. Clamp the plywood extension to the table. If you want to rip wide stock, clamp or screw a wood fence to the table extension, parallel with the bandsaw blade. Support long boards with a stand positioned on the outfeed side of the saw.

--Don Butler, Waterford, Pa.
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Attempting to run thin pieces of stock--less than 1/2" thick--through a self-feed planer often fails because the stock breaks up as it passes under the blades

Select a flat auxiliary board at least as wide as and 1" longer than the thin stock. Pass this board through the planer to make it a uniform thickness. Then, put cloth-backed double-faced tape between the finished side of the workpiece and the thin stock. Press this assembly firmly together in a bench vise for good adhesion. With this technique, you can plane stock down to 1/16" or less. Remember to always plane with the grain of thin pieces to avoid tearout. If possible, slow the feed rate as well. Be sure to let one end of the stock exceed the tape's length by 1/2" so you can insert a putty knife to gently pry it off the board. If the piece resists prying, dissolve the tape adhesive with lacquer thinner.

--W.M. Fox, DeBary, Fla.
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Glue squeeze-out sometimes dries and adheres to the face of handscrew clamps. Later, projects that have been clamped turn out with marred surfaces because of dried-on glue globs.

Apply a coat of paste wax to the face of each jaw of your clamps to prevent glue buildup. It's also a good idea to maintain a light coat of wax on metal clamps--this will help you prevent rust from forming and discoloring project surfaces.

--Carl Scholl, Mancelona, Mich.
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Even the smallest dents and scratches can mar the appearance of otherwise successful woodworking projects.

To remove small dents or raise minor scratches in wood surfaces, wet and then cover the problem area with a damp cloth. Using a household iron on a dry setting, apply heat to the cloth for 15-second intervals. Take care not to scorch the wood.

--From the WOOD® magazine shop
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Because wood putty never seems to exactly match the wood, patches stick out like a sore thumb.

For an exact color match, there's nothing closer than the actual wood. Gather fresh sawdust--the finer the better--from your belt sander or workbench. On waxed paper, stir the sawdust into a puddle of epoxy. Fill holes, cracks, and mistakes with the mixture.

--From the WOOD® magazine shop
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The top of your tablesaw looks forlorn--blemished by minor stains or corrosion. And, your jointer beds are coated with crud accumulated from jointing hundreds of boards.

Brighten their appearance by spraying with rust remover or WD-40, then scouring with No. 3 steel wool pads on a pad sander (orbital action works best). Surfaces will shine like new after a few minutes' work. But don't saturate the sander's felt pad.

--From the WOOD® magazine shop
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For your drawer lock to work properly, the lock bolt must slide smoothly into the mortise (or hole) you make for it. But, trying to measure and mark that location is driving you crazy.

Extend the lock bolt and put lipstick on the end of it. Retract the bolt, close the drawer, and then extend the bolt. The lipstick will mark the correct position for the bolt hole or mortise. You can mark door locks and cabinet latches this way, too.

--Cynthia Hewitt, Grants Pass, Ore.
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Many woodworkers don't have a large enough clamping table for doors and other wide objects. And, bar clamps have a tendency to flop to one side when you lay them on a flat surface.

Summon a couple of sawhorses to the rescue. Notch the horses and insert your bar clamps or pipe clamps, as shown in the drawing. For flat sawhorses and workbenches, notch two 2x4s in a similar fashion and tack them to the work surface.

--Rob Huffman, Danville, Va.
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You need to cut a straight edge on a board. The only problem is, you don't have a tablesaw or radial-arm saw, only a bandsaw.

Add a long fence to your bandsaw to true that board. Make one a few inches longer than twice the length of the board you want to true. Clamp it to the saw table, extending a little more than a board length on each side of the blade, and then saw with your widest blade. Cut the second edge against the standard fence.

--Cheryl Diggs, Virginia Beach, Va.
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Although it's fairly routine to glue flat surfaces, you find it difficult to get even pressure on the round, irregular, or other-wise out-of-the-ordinary surfaces.

For less than $2 at most office-supply stores, you can purchase an ordinary 1/2-lb. box of No. 107 rubber bands, which measure 1/16" wide, 5/8" wide, and 7" long before stretching and make great clamps. Smaller bands also can be useful in the shop. The glue pops off easily, and they never rust. (By the way, the bands will last a lot longer if you store them in a cool, dark drawer.)

--Mike Locke, Long Beach, Calif.
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Not all of us have a lot of room in our shops to put in a big rack for pipe clamps. But there are other ways to store them. Top your pipe clamps with an end cap and eye bolt, and you can hang them anywhere you put a nail or hook. You'll find end caps in the plumbing-supply bins in the hardware store. Simply drill a hole through the top of the cap, insert a 1/4" eye bolt in the hole, and secure it with a nut and lock washer. Screw this assembly onto the threaded end of your pipe clamps and hang'em high.

--Ernest W. Stewart, Sanford, Fla.
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